Adrienne's Inventions: Packing lister

I'm thinking there could probably be a simple piece of technology that people can use to keep track of what they pack where. It could be some sort of hand's free camera that takes a photo and tags each item as it goes into the box. It could also be a barcode reader so if it's an item with a bar code, like a book, the specifics of it will be recorded as well. Then you just let it know when you're done with a box and mark your box with the reference number and start on your next one. Your list of items and the boxes they're in can be accessed on the device or on your computer. The technology exists already. It would have to be something that moving companies rent out along with their trucks, because I doubt anyone would want to use it all the time unless they had something like a big supply closet. There are probably more commercial applications for this kind of thing, though I'm sure inventory management software is more useful for that. I'm thinking small scale personal use.

Micro Generations?

This article in the New York Times discusses the topic of growing up in a changing digital world. The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by Their 20s discusses the idea that because technology is changing so rapidly, even 20 somethings have different values habits and expectations than people who are in their teens. I'm not sure I agree that rapidly changing technology creates these micro generations. Yes, my younger sisters do text way more than I do, but I still text. The article's author was also astounded to realize that a 2 year old identified a kindle as a book. The technolgoy people of different ages use are just varied tools accomplishing similar tasks: entertainment, communication etc. I don't think the effect will be quite as drastic as the article makes it out to be, though there will always be generation gaps.